Joseph Smith

The recent news concerning Joseph L. Bishop, the former president of the Provo Missionary Training Center (1983–1986) who admitted to sexual misconduct with one sister missionary and is accused of attempted rape of another, has rightly outraged many. So “serious and deeply disturbing” are the allegations that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints … Read more

The remarkable work of the Joseph Smith Papers Project has continued unabated since the publication of Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839 in 2008. Last year the Church Historian’s Press, which publishes the volumes of the series, released Administrative Records, Council of Fifty, Minutes, March 1844–January 1846. This landmark occasion has finally brought to light a set … Read more

The first half of the eighth Article of Faith reads, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.” This simple statement captures the theological position on the Bible accepted by Latter-day Saints. Unlike their Protestant friends, Latter-day Saints reject the doctrine of sola scriptura and instead … Read more

By the way, there’s really no reason to think Joseph Smith didn’t actually have these in his possession. A question I’ve encountered from time to time is why, if Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through revelatory means, were the golden plates necessary. Jeremy Runnells, for instance, wonders how this doesn’t make useless “the … Read more

Carlfred Broderick (1932–1999) The Latter-day Saint psychologist and family therapist Carlfred Broderick shared the following thought on Joseph Smith in his 1996 volume My Parents Married on a Dare: And Other Favorite Essays on Life. I am impressed with the enormous amount of scholarship that has, in recent years, provided us with a far more textured … Read more

Inside the Sacred Grove. While serving as a missionary in New England, I heard it all the time: “Oh, I don’t need organized religion. I can find God when I go in nature.” I would scoff to my companion after the encounter. “Really, you tree-hugging Vermonter hipster? You can find God in some trees?” Being … Read more

Alexander Louis Leloir, Jacob Wrestling With the Angel (1865). This evening I (finally) finished reading Terryl Givens’ excellent Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Cosmos, God, Humanity. (Before I say anything else, may I express my delight in Givens using a story from the Hebrew Bible to symbolize his treatise on Mormon theology?) … Read more

Professor Alexander L. Baugh is a professor of Church History at Brigham Young University. He is the author of numerous articles on early Church history and wrote the magnificent dissertation A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri, one of the definitive works on the 1838 Mormon War. You can read the … Read more

[This blog post was written by my good friend Brandon Habermeyer, a BYU graduate in philosophy and film studies. It has also been cross-posted at the FairMormon blog.] I remember hearing a quote in my institute class from the late Hugh Nibley, who is reported to have said something along the lines of, “In order … Read more

“One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Joseph Smith–––History 1:17) Joseph Smith’s First Vision has attracted considerable criticism over the years. For anyone who may have encountered criticisms of the First Vision and are looking for some good resources responding … Read more

Pictured: Brian C. Hales, a rank amateur who doesn’t know the first thing about Joseph Smith’s plural marriage. Jeremy Runnells, author of the popular anti-Mormon tract “Letter to a CES Director,” is upset. He’s upset that Brian Hales, one of the foremost authorities on Joseph Smith’s plural marriage, would dare challenge him and his accusations … Read more

[Cross posted from the FairMormon Blog.] An anonymous author* writing at the MorningStar Post blog “had an awful time putting [a] story together” on “the number of Latter Day Saints [sic] that are actually considered active,” and that Mormons are, per the title of the post, allegedly “leaving their religion in record numbers around the world.” (Link) … Read more

Elder Boyd K. Packer (b. 1924). Elder Boyd K. Packer gave an address (“The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect”) at a CES symposium in 1981 where he said, “Some things that are true are not very useful.” This soundbite has been gleefully reproduced by anti-Mormons as evidence that Elder Packer was promoting … Read more